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The 2012 Maxxis British Drift Championship will receive television coverage on the Motors TV digital channel. Highlights of Round One of the championship will be broadcast every day this week. The Championship’s organisers describe the coverage as “a huge step forward for all involved”, emphasising the value of increased coverage to a wider audience. The organisers also suggested that UK drifting is making steps towards becoming a mainstream motorsport.
Pirelli will bring its P Zero Yellow and Silver Formula One tyres to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, the tyre supplier has announced. As is now customary, the Italian manufacturer announced its compound allocations for the three races following the coming weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. In Montreal’s Canadian Grand Prix, Pirelli will bring its P Zero Yellow soft and P Zero Red supersoft tyres, while at the Grand Prix of Europe in Valencia, the teams will have the P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft at their disposal.
Dunlop has unveiled its new scooter tyre on the UK market at the Ace Café, London. The Dunlop ScootSmart applies the brand’s global experience with the RoadSmart motorcycle tyre, bringing what the company says are unprecedented levels of technology to the small wheel class. Mark Sears, Dunlop’s motorcycle product support manager commented that the ScootSmart has benefitted from “advanced Dunlop technology, much of it adapted from high-performance motorcycle tyres”, allowing “scooter enthusiasts to ride with total confidence and manage their running costs.”
Pirelli has announced a variety of upgrades to its consumer website, including a new section about tyre labelling. The website, the main information source for Pirelli’s various products on the UK and international markets, boasts a greater degree of interactivity, helping visitors to make more informed tyre choices. Pirelli UK managing director Dominic Sandivasci commented: “We recognise that the new labelling legislation may be confusing to some of our consumers, so we felt it was important to create an interactive platform on our website to help our customers understand more about the changes, and how they can ultimately benefit from the new labelling regulations.”
A national insurance broker is warning businesses to take precautions as the theft of catalytic converters from vehicles increases. According to latest figures the practice, which involves removing the converter from the exhaust pipe to sell onto scrap metal dealers, has doubled from 1,100 incidents to 2,300 over a five month period as the value of platinum, palladium and rhodium from which the converters are made increases.
A coalition of high-profile road safety and environmental organisations have today (18th May) launched a campaign protesting the government's plans to increase speed limits on motorways to 80mph.
A new report commissioned by the RAC Foundation suggests that the Treasury will need to make up a shortfall in fuel duty caused by more efficient cars. The Association of British Drivers suggests that drivers are subsidising general taxation by far too much already and that redressing this imbalance should be the priority.
Current Imported Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ITMA) president David Seward has announced his intention to step down from this role at the conclusion of his two-year term. Seward will make way for a new president, the identity of whom will be decided by elections at the association’s annual general meeting later in June. He remains managing director of Yokohama HPT Ltd based in Milton Keynes.
Roads Minister Mike Penning has announced that classic vehicles will be exempted from the MoT test. According to details released by the Department for Transport on 21 May, vehicles manufactured before 1960 will be exempted from the MoT test from 18 November 2012.
GT Radial has announced that it will launch four new truck tyres and two new car tyres in Hall Three at Reifen 2012, including a flagship product for the ultra high performance sector. The company’s first retreaded truck tyre – the GT REE Tread, or GTR990 – will also be displayed at Messe Essen, making its first European appearance having been launched at The Commercial Vehicle Show 2012. The retread is a hot cure bead-to-bead retread built on GT Radial casings, available in a regional trailer pattern and in 385/65R22.5 sizing.
Infinity Tyres has signed a distribution deal with Groupe Massa in France. The group operates through several subsidiary companies focusing on retail, logistics, retreading and wholesale, and the brand will be distributed through the Massa Pneus retail network and the business-to-business Imagine Car operation, which it says is the largest wholesaler on the French market.
It’s now been six years since Sumitomo Rubber introduced its first eco-oriented tyre containing a form of epoxidised natural rubber called Ekoprena. Yet despite Sumitomo’s success with this product, Ekoprena remains an unknown quantity in much of the wider tyre world. The rubber’s developers, the Malaysian Rubber Board, intends to change this. Last year it appointed two companies to produce Ekoprena in quantities sufficient for its commercialization. Tyres & Accessories recently spoke to Paul Brown, head of the Advanced Materials and Product Design Unit at the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre, the UK-based research centre run by the Malaysian Rubber Board, and he confirmed that commercial production of Ekoprena will get under way this year.
If you were to look back on the rising presence of Chinese tyres in recent times, you’d be mistaken for thinking manufacturers in the People’s Republic view the world as their oyster and the future as all good. Yet tyre makers in China are not insulated from the economic troubles we’ve experienced since 2008. Last year, China’s economic growth slowed and imports are currently increasing at a greater rate than exports. On top of all this, China is now home to more than 500 tyre manufacturers. And while the top ten Chinese tyre makers together hold 30 per cent of the domestic market, most companies are small and many have product mix and quality issues. In light of these economic conditions and a crowded playing field, a number of larger Chinese firms realise they need to adapt in order to continue prospering. Specifically, they recognise the necessity of investing in quality.
Falken is preparing for the UK launch of what it calls its strongest and quietest ultra high performance tyre, the Azenis FK453. The new tyre succeeds, both numerically and in Falken’s line-up, the FK452, a tyre Falken says has been revered by many car enthusiasts for its blend of performance and affordability. With the launch of this latest product, for the first time the Japanese tyre maker is offering Y speed rated fitments suitable for use at up to 186mph or 300km/h. The new range will be available in a total of 62 sizes, including a 20-inch version, to fit sports and performance cars such as the VW Golf GTI, BMW 1 Series M Coupe, Porsche 911 and Audi RS5.
As the tyre brand of choice for numerous race teams and track enthusiasts around the world, Avon tyres has taken its expertise and understanding of race tyres and applied the same principles and technology to its ultra high performance road tyre range. Catering for luxury saloons through to high-performance sports cars, Avon’s ZZ5 and ZZ3 tyres are intended to provide the highest levels of grip and handling on the road and track.
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